


Nancy

by mercurybard



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-11
Updated: 2011-04-11
Packaged: 2017-10-17 22:46:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/182123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mercurybard/pseuds/mercurybard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Having a child on board the TARDIS was a novelty for the Doctor</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nancy

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC and other people who aren't me. AU from the end of "The Doctor Dances"

Having a child--an honest to goodness small child who cried when he skinned a knee and whose bedtime was something like eight o'clock--on board the TARDIS was a novelty for the Doctor. Jamie was a good kid, if still a little shaken by his death and resurrection at the hands of the Chula nanogenes. Not that he remembered any of it--walking around with a gas mask for a face, wailing for his mummy, and turning everyone he touched into creatures like himself--but kids were smart, kids were clever. Jamie spent most of his time with his mother, Nancy, taking every excuse to cling to her. Nancy, who suddenly had this second chance with her son, did not seem opposed to the extra affection.

As for Nancy, during the first several weeks aboard the TARDIS, she was excessively polite, possibly in reaction to all the strange newness around her. Eventually, though, that wore away, and she started sassing Jack and the Doctor back just as she had on Earth 1941.

Possibly the contraption that won the most praise and wonder from her was not the time machine, but the washing machine located in a backroom just off the wardrobe. It took almost a month before Rose convinced her to swap her and Jamie's ragged clothing for new sets from the wardrobe. Nancy spent hours picking through the Doctor's motley collection of finery and fippery that spanned millions of years and thousands of planets-worth of fashion. She found something for Jamie first--knickerbockers and a little sailor top, not much different than the style of their day--but when it came to picking out something for herself, she was so very indecisive. Rose tried to help, but it soon became apparent the two of them had very different ideas of what constituted women's clothing. Nancy was morally opposed to trousers, eventually settling on a black house dress with white polka dots and a yellow sash from either the 1950s or the 2010s mod era.

But she paired it with clunky black boots from the year 3017, which made the Doctor grin when Rose dragged her into TARDIS' control room to show off the new outfit. Straps and buckles almost to her knees and mag-grab soles that activated if you kicked them a certain way. "Bit fancy," Nancy confessed, "But they looked workable enough."

"In honor of your new duds, I say we find a fine planet to land on and do a bit of exploring, eh?" Almost a month, and he hadn't been able to coax her outside at any of their stops. She was still skittish after living in a world under siege. 'She needs to heal', he'd told Rose on several occassions. "I was thinking New Earth." His hands were already on the controls.

The TARDIS shuddered a bit as she flung herself between the eons. Nancy gripped the edge of the console, her knuckles white, while Jamie hung on to her skirt, watching the controls flash and smoke. "So the year five billion, the Sun expands, the Earth gets roasted," he tells her.

"That was our first date," Rose piped up.

He flashed her a grin. "We had chips." She grinned right back. Lovely girl, Rose. One of the most adventurous he'd met in his seven hundred or so years of life. Always ready to see the sights. "So anyway, planet gone. All rocks and dust, but the human race lives on spread out across the stars. Soon as the Earth burns up, ooh, they get all nostalgic, big revival movement. So they find this place. Same size as the Earth. Same air, same orbit. Lovely. All those outer humans move in."

Nancy ran a hand along the lip of the console. "The whole Earth gone, but humans live on?"

"Oh, they certainly do," he assured her. "Great ones you lot are for expansion. Give you a spaceship and point you at the stars and you'll go anywhere. Do anything." The TARDIS chimed that they'd reached their destination, and he held out his hand to the young mother. "Come with me, Nancy. Come with me and see the stars. I promise it will be the adventure of a lifetime."

She regarded him solemnly for a moment. "I have to keep Jamie safe, Doctor. Can you promise me he will be?"

What was it with mothers and their demands for safety for their offspring? First Jackie Tyler and now Nancy. "Nothing's perfectly safe, Nancy. You know that better than anyone, but I swear I'll do everything in my not-inconsiderable power to protect the two of you."

He watched her waver for a moment, uncertainity and fear and curiousity playing across her beautifully plain features. And then she took his hand, clasping it with both of hers. "All right, Doctor, take us to New Earth."

He caught Jamie's hand in his free one and steered them to the door of the TARDIS. Rose beat them to it and held the door open for them. The sweet smell of apple grass wafted through, and they stepped out...into adventure


End file.
